The Development of Five and Six Years Old - Article Example

Download file to see previous pages According to Piaget (1959), literacy actively develops with a child’s interaction with the environment.  Such interaction brings about learning, as concepts are constructed or changed, usually, differing from adult concepts.  Still another perspective inspired by Vygotsky (1962), as he theorizes that a child learns literacy through conversation and involvement in literacy acts with an adult.  This interaction between adult and child called ‘scaffolding’.  This occurs when a knowledgeable adult gently guides a child through successive literacy activities while relinquishing autonomy little by little to the child until such time he can do in on his own. According to Piaget (1959), literacy actively develops with a child’s interaction with the environment.  Such interaction brings about learning, as concepts are constructed or changed, usually, differing from adult concepts.  Still another perspective inspired by Vygotsky (1962), as he theorizes that a child learns literacy through conversation and involvement in literacy acts with an adult.  This interaction between adult and child called ‘scaffolding’.  This occurs when a knowledgeable adult gently guides a child through successive literacy activities while relinquishing autonomy little by little to the child until such time he can do in on his own. Berk (2008) identifies cognitive attainments of 4-7-year-olds.  Whereas before, magical-thinking prevails, with children of this age group, they become increasingly aware that make-believe is representational of reality. Magical beliefs on fairy tales are challenged with plausible explanations, as children seek more realistic understanding of things.   Piaget’s concept of conservation is defined as “the knowledge that the number, mass, area, length, weight, and volume of objects are not changed by physically rearranging the objects.” (Brewer, 2001). Simply put, conservation is being able to distinguish that two things are equivalent even if they do not appear to be the same.  Children at the pre-operational stage still cannot conserve.  They eventually master these tasks over the next cognitive stage of Piaget, the concrete operational stage (Berk, 2008).  Number, mass and liquid conservation skills are gained sometime between the ages of 6 and 7 years, while weight conservation, between the ages of 8 and 10 years. ...Download file to see next pagesRead More